Thousands of "locks of love" hang on Christmas trees at a terrace of Seoul Tower on Mt. Namsan in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

(Newser)
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A message circulating widely on Facebook that warns of a virus called "Christmas Tree" appears to be a fake, Mashable reports. "Of course, with the message spreading as quickly as it is, it wouldn’t surprise us if someone actually created a malicious app bearing that or a similar name," writes Stan Schroeder. "That’s the problem with fake warnings: They create confusion and after a while it gets hard to distinguish the fake threats from the real ones."

Here's a typical wording of the warning: "WARNING!!!!!!…..DONOT USE THE Christmas Tree application on Facebook. Please be advised it will crash your computer. Geek squad says it’s oneof the WORST trojan-viruses there is and it is spreading quickly. Re-post and let your friends know."

I understand that this particular incident was a hoax. However, Facebook has proved to us time and time again that it is too insecure for those concerned about their privacy online. Believe me, I need to use Facebook but I want to be able to do it without being concerned about my security. That is why I am waiting for "privacy aware" websites like Diaspora or perhaps MyCube, which can offer online privacy. Its not like Facebook was always insecure, it used to be secure at one point, but sadly, now its become unusable and its time to move on.

BillBlackfield

Nov 24, 2010 4:22 AM CST

Yet again we have a some malware attacking facebook. This is evidence of how unsecure facebook actually is. Today facebook offers no sort of security over users private content and I believe users should realize this and leave facebook. I have left facebook and am waiting for a safer platform like MyCube or Diaspora to launch